The Giants found their solution at third base by acquiring Evan Longoria, but their outfield remains a serious issue that they are strategically attempting to address before the end of the offseason. Their hope is to stay under the luxury tax threshold after surpassing it the past two years, but if worse comes to worse, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle told Drew Hoffar and Kevin Frandsen on KNBR Tonight that the Giants are willing to throw money at their outfield problems.
“It’s not a hard cap for the Giants,” Schulman said. “They want to stay under it, but [Brian] Sabean and [Bobby] Evans are not under a restriction that they absolutely have to. I think that as they get down to the brass tacks at the end of the offseason and they see that their only option to fix the outfield, that right now doesn’t have a whole lot of major league experience out there, is to go over the figure, they’ll have to go over the figure.”
As of now, the Giants are working with a group of outfielders consisting primarily of Hunter Pence, Gorkys Hernandez, Austin Slater, Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson, with Kelby Tomlinson occasionally patrolling left field. Of those options, only Pence has served more than four years in the major leagues, and he and Hernandez are the only ones who have played more than 64 games in a single season.
By trading away Matt Moore’s $9 million salary and giving away Denard Span’s contract in the Longoria trade, the Giants are working with roughly $15 million before they reach the luxury tax threshold. That allows them to pursue Andrew McCutchen, who is guaranteed $14.5 million next year, along with other outfielders they’ve been reportedly interested in. However, should the Giants avoid going over the threshold by the beginning of this season, it’ll be important for them to leave some financial flexibility in case an opportunity presents itself down the road.
“This cap is the total money you spend between December 2 of this last year and December 1 of this year,” Schulman said. “If you get a mid-season acquisition, you have to add that and I think that all teams are going to keep a little bit of wiggle room there.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 6:31 for Schulman on the Giants.
